NORTH COLLEGE HILL - Playing football, leading a team, giving all one can for that team — none of those things require the sense of sound.

North College Hill senior running back/linebacker Dakota Whaley was born deaf. He can hear 40 percent out of one ear, while the other is completely deaf.

When he was asked through his interpreter if the inability to hear ever caused him doubt or uncertainty as to whether he could play, Whaley quickly and confidently raised the index finger and middle finger on his right hand and brought them down to meet his thumb, the sign for “no.”

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North College Hill senior Dakota Whaley, who was born almost completely deaf, practices on Aug. 23, 2017. (Photo: The Enquirer/Adam Baum)

At 5-foot-7, 155 pounds, it wasn’t Whaley’s hearing impairment that initially stood out to his coaches. It was his tenacity and demeanor.

“When I first started here two years ago, Dakota was just a kid, a little small linebacker but he showed a lot of heart which really impressed me,” said second-year North College Hill head coach Derek Wiggins. “He had a lot of instinct. He’s not afraid of hitting and tackling people, but he’s just one of those kids … by his demeanor, he wants to be treated as normal as you possibly can.”

Whaley started playing football in the second grade, following in the footsteps of his older brother, who also played at NCH and now plays in college.

When Wiggins first began coaching Whaley, he said, “I started talking and (the other coaches) told me he’s deaf in one ear and almost deaf in the other ear so you gotta talk really loud and let him read your lips, because he can read your lips and he can sign as well.”

Whaley took matters into his own hands this season by teaching his teammates some basic sign language.

“Our new offense we put in, we go by a different numbering system,” Wiggins said. “So we were like, ‘Dakota, how do we sign numbers to you?’ and he went through and showed us one through nine. So the quarterback has learned how to sign numbers to him.”

His whole life, Whaley’s had to deal with something that’s entirely beyond his control. He’s accepted what he can’t change, and he's stronger for it.

When asked if being born deaf has in any way made him a better football player, Whaley said, “I think so. Some deaf people never play football.”

Being deaf has never been a reason to stop Whaley from trying.

“I think that it definitely motivates him to want to work hard,” said Wiggins, who described Whaley as having the heart of a lion. “This definitely gives him a positive chip on his shoulder. Because he’s undersized and because of his ability not to hear as well, he has a little bite about him.

“Dakota just wants to be one of the guys. All the guys respect him and they treat him as equals. The guys, they look at him as a senior leader. He’s not real vocal but they know he’s a leader just by example.”

Whaley gets to take the high school field 10 more times under the lights alongside his brothers. His favorite part about that?